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“Fight against Cybercrime”: amendments to the draft report

05 July 2017

MEP Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi (EPP, Greece) drafted an own-initiative report (INI) on “the fight against Cybercrime” for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament. The text calls for industry-driven and voluntary measures in order to build trust in the security of software and devices, such as the IoT trust label. MEPs from the LIBE Committee could table amendments until June 8. Many of them were keen to underline the importance and vulnerability of Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Anneleen Van Bossuyt (ECR, Belgium) tabled an amendment to point out that IoT devices “are often not as well protected as traditional devices connected to the internet” making them ideal targets for cybercriminals. Miriam Dalli (S&D, Malta) and other MEPs added to this statement that “the regime for security updates for connected devices is often patchy and sometimes lacking completely”.

Most of the MEPs agree that voluntary measures, such as the IoT trust label, must remain the preferred option. However, Jan Philipp Albrecht (Greens, Germany) and Cornelia Ernst (GUE, Germany) are of the opinion that the liability regime concerning IoT devices should be tightened, especially with regards to producers.